A leader whose life reflects an ongoing identification with desires that Scripture calls “contrary to nature” presents a confusing model for the flock. Even if celibate, the outcome of such a way of life may fall short of the progressive sanctification that Scripture holds forth as normative for believers, and especially for leaders.

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” – Hebrews 13:7 (ESV)

The Spirit of God, through the writer of Hebrews, calls the church not simply to listen to its leaders, but to observe them: carefully, soberly, and spiritually. We are to “consider the outcome of their way of life” and only then “imitate their faith.” This is a weighty charge. It assumes that a leader’s life is not incidental to his ministry but is itself a central part of his message. Doctrine and life are inseparable; what a shepherd is shapes what the sheep become.

In our present moment, the church is increasingly confronted with questions about whether a man who identifies as same-sex attracted, though professing celibacy, meets the biblical qualifications for gospel ministry. This is not a question to be answered sentimentally or pragmatically, but biblically. Hebrews 13:7 presses us to examine the trajectory and outcome of a leader’s life. What kind of faith does his life commend? Is it one worthy of imitation?

1. The Nature of the Sin: Contrary to God’s Design

Scripture speaks with clarity and sobriety about homosexual sin. In Romans 1:26–27, Paul describes same-sex relations as “dishonorable passions” and “contrary to nature.” This language is not incidental. It signals that such desires are not simply disordered in degree (as with excesses of natural desires) but disordered in kind – a departure from the created order itself.

Similarly, Leviticus 18:22 calls such acts an “abomination,” a term used in Scripture to denote what is especially detestable because it violates God’s holy design. While all sin is serious and damning apart from grace, the Bible does not flatten all sins into identical categories. Some sins are described as particularly grievous because they invert God’s created purposes.

This matters pastorally. If a leader continues to self-identify by an attraction toward what God explicitly calls “contrary to nature,” even while abstaining from the act, we must ask whether this reflects the kind of transformation Scripture envisions.

2. The Qualification of the Man: A Pattern of Maturity

The pastoral epistles set forth clear qualifications for elders. In 1 Timothy 3:2 an overseer must be “above reproach,” and in Titus 1:6–7 he must be “blameless.” These are not calls to sinless perfection, but to evident, observable maturity – patterns of life that commend the transforming grace of God.

A man may wrestle with many sins and yet demonstrate repentance and growth. But when a leader adopts an identity grounded in a persistent attraction toward what God condemns, it raises a serious question: does this reflect the kind of spiritual maturity required of those who “speak the word of God”? The issue is not simply temptation, but how that temptation is understood, framed, and carried.

Biblically qualified leaders are those whose lives increasingly correspond to God’s design, not those who normalize ongoing patterns of disordered desire, even if those desires are restrained in behavior. The office of elder is not a place for unresolved identity tensions, but for demonstrated sanctification.

3. The Work of Mortification: Putting Sin to Death

The New Testament consistently calls believers to an active, Spirit-empowered mortification of sin. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you,” writes Paul in Colossians 3:5. Likewise, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

In Christ, believers are not merely forgiven; we are made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). While indwelling sin remains, the defining mark of the Christian life is not the persistence of old identities, but the progressive transformation into the image of Christ.

When a minister continues to describe himself in terms of a persistent attraction to what God forbids, we must ask: is this consistent with the biblical call to mortify sin? Or does it risk signaling a settled coexistence with it? The shepherd’s life should model not only restraint from sin, but a growing reorientation of desires toward what is good, pure, and pleasing to God.

Considering the Outcome

Hebrews 13:7 calls us to consider the outcome – the trajectory and fruit – of a leader’s life. What does it produce? What kind of faith does it display? And crucially, is it a faith that others should imitate?

A leader whose life reflects an ongoing identification with desires that Scripture calls “contrary to nature” presents a confusing model for the flock. Even if celibate, the outcome of such a way of life may fall short of the progressive sanctification that Scripture holds forth as normative for believers, and especially for leaders.

By contrast, Paul could say with confidence, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). This is the standard for gospel ministry: not perfection, but a life so evidently formed by Christ that others may safely follow.

A Call to Faithful Discernment

This is not a call to harshness, but to holiness. Not to exclusion for its own sake, but to fidelity to God’s Word and the good of His church. Every believer is called to fight sin, to walk in repentance, and to grow in Christlikeness. But not every believer is called to be a model for the flock in the office of elder.

Hebrews 13:7 invites us to remember, to consider, and then to imitate. Immediately following, we are anchored by this unchanging truth: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). This verse is not disconnected; it is the foundation for the discernment we are commanded to exercise. The standard by which we evaluate leaders is not defined by cultural shifts or pastoral pragmatism, but by the unchanging character of Christ Himself.

Because Christ does not change, His design for holiness does not change. Because His truth does not evolve, neither do the qualifications for those who would represent Him before His people. The call to transformation, the pattern of godliness, and the nature of faithful leadership remain fixed in Him.

Therefore, when we “consider the outcome of their way of life,” we must do so in light of the unchanging Christ. A faith worthy of imitation is one that increasingly reflects His likeness, not one that settles into ongoing identification with desires He calls us to put to death. The closer a leader’s life corresponds to the enduring holiness of Christ, the more confidently the church can obey the command: “imitate their faith.”

May the Lord raise up shepherds whose lives are steadily conformed to the same Christ – yesterday, today, and forever – so that the church, in following them, is led ever more faithfully to Him.

Dr. Steve Curtis, is a Ruling Elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and Director of Timothy Two Project International in Wilmington, NC.